Whew! Finally you showed up! I was beginning to feel out numbered here....and I'm not even a valid fan! (just appreciate a fast moving game that has men with good legs!)
Maybe I did not make myself clear on my post.
I know that soccer is popular in Western Europe and Australia, but I was highlighting the reason for its popularity in most of the world, especially poor countries.
For instance, while staying overseas, I have taught Latin American children to play American football, and the kids loved the game. Nevertheless, they ended up playing soccer most of the time because they lacked access to the football logistics necessary to organize school and neighborhood teams.
Most of those kids still follow American football on satellite TV and occasionally send me letters thanking me for teaching them football.
But why would you ruin a couple of perfectly good 10K runs by placing a ball amongst the runners? The truth is that soccer will never (within the next 4 generations, at least) catch on as a spectator sport in the US for a number of reasons:
- No upper body strength involved. Americans love upper body strength -- hitting a ball (like chopping a tree), tackling someone to the ground -- and demonstrations of power.
- No short term goals. Many soccer matches have long, unsatisfying interludes. A rush down the field often results in a turnover, or worse -- offsides. Baseball has intermediate steps to scoring as does football. Basketball has scoring constantly.
- Watching soccer, you are more likely than not going to miss the crucial scoring opportunity. It cannot be watched casually and "updates" on the game are useless. Many visitors to the US complain that commercials make soccer on TV impossible. This isn't true. Most Americans watch TV as a secondary activity. They know when a crucial moment in American sports is coming. With soccer, they will miss the big goal until it gets put on replay.
- No in-game strategy. There's no coach to second-guess. No elaborate game plans, no crucial decisions. Sports talk radio can't really exist for soccer.
- Very little individuality. Baseball and football have almost absurd degrees of specialization. Basketball has very few players. It is very hard to keep track of 10 players who all, in a broad sense, have the same job.
Don't get me wrong, this is also why the NHL is still a cult sport in the US. Still, it's a pleasant way to spend a dreary Sunday afternoon, as our English friends remind us.